Kingdom Hearts: Awakening
by pieguy25
Summary: In a parallel universe of cannon Kingdom Hearts, Riku longs to grow up and see other worlds. But when his world is consumed by darkness, Riku sets out on a quest to find those he cares for, and learn how to control his new found power: the ability to wield a keyblade.
1. The Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise, nor do I own any of the characters. They are the property of Disney and Square Enix.

* * *

Riku stood in the middle of a round, stained glass floor. It was about fifty feet in diameter, and was surrounded in darkness. He began to wonder where he was when he heard a strange voice.

_"So much to do, so little time..."_

"Wait, what are you talking about? And who are you?" Riku asked, even more confused than before.

_"The door is still shut. Step forward, and take up your sword."_

"Wait, what sword? I don't have a..."

Just then, a flash of light flooded his vision. When the light faded, he saw a small white pedestal about twenty feet in front of him, and on top of the pedestal, lay a sword with a silver blade, golden hilt, an a blue and black grip. He took the weapon in his hand, and the pedestal faded.

_"You've gained the power to fight. Use this strength to protect yourself and others."_

Behind him, Riku heard the quiet sound of claws scratching against the floor. When he turned around, he saw a group of five small monsters that went up just above Riku's knees. They had big round heads with two antennae that curled at the ends, as well as small, hunched over bodies and sharp claws. They were entirely black, except for their piercing yellow eyes. They all stared curiously at him, as if they weren't sure whether or not to kill him yet.

_"There will be times you have to fight. Don't be afraid. Keep your light burning strong."_

"Wait, what's that supposed to..."

One of the small creatures lunged at Riku, a wild look in its eyes. His instincts took over, and he swung wildly at the creature. He landed a lucky blow and the creature dissolved. Riku then focused his attention on the other four, who were already on the offensive. More focused now, he struck down another. He swung at the third when something bizarre happened. The creature melded into the ground like a shadow, and Riku hit nothing but air. After about a minute more of fighting, he finally destroyed all of the creatures. But he didn't walk away unscathed; one of the monsters, he decided to start calling them shadows, was able to slash him across his back. It stung terribly, but it was tolerable.

"What... was that about?" Riku asked, nearly out of breath.

In response, an open door appeared in front of him, light flooding through the entrance. Nervously, Riku stepped inside. After a series of battles and other such challenges, most of which he would later on have trouble remembering, he came to a long doorless hallway, with a fountain at the end.

"That's it, I'm tired of this." Riku said, annoyed at the strange and cryptic voice that kept telling him what to do, "Who are you, where am I, and why all these challenges?"

_"Throughout your coming journey you will experience many different hardships and endure great pain, both physical and otherwise. But don't be afraid."_

"Stop saying that!"

After a brief pause, the voice continued. _"Gaze into the fountain. There you will see the face of your greatest foe on your journey. One who will constantly plant fears, doubts, and indecision in your mind."_

Riku wanted to know more, but he knew that was probably all he was going to get for now, so he walked to the end of the corridor and gazed into the fountain. In it, he saw the image of a boy in his late teens with blue eyes and long silver hair that went to about his shoulders.

"Wait, this doesn't make sense. All I see is my reflection."

_"Exactly."_

The fountain then disappeared, and in its place was a spiral staircase. He climbed up it for what seemed like hours, and finally came to a large open room. He walked over to the center and waited to see what would happen next.

Suddenly, his shadow came to life. It rose up from the floor and stared at him menacingly with its piercing yellow eyes. Then things started to get even stranger. The thing grew and grew until it was at least twenty feet high. Its head became a mass of dark tendrils, and it had a massive hole in its torso in the shape of a heart.

Riku panicked. How could he possibly fight **that**? He ran for staircase, but it had disappeared. He turned around and faced the monster. Feeling he had no other choice, he charged it, sword still in hand. After an intense fight where Riku was nearly crushed multiple times, the monster crashed to the ground. Riku thought he'd won, but then the creature started to melt into a large pool of darkness. Soon, darkness surrounded him, and he began to sink as if it was quicksand. When all but his head had been consumed, he heard the ominous voice one last time.

_"But don't be afraid. You hold the mightiest weapon of all. So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door."_

"No!" Riku shouted as his eyes flung open and he shot out of his bed, sweat covering his body. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that his mother was standing next to him, pale as a ghost. After nearly half a minute of silence, she was able to squeak out a reply,

"You ok honey? I just shook you a little to wake up, when you started shouting and jumped out of bed." It was obvious to him that he had scared her half to death. Many people said that Riku looked a lot like his mom, since they had the same hair eye and skin color.

"Sorry about that Mom, I guess I had a bad dream or something." And a bad dream he most certainly had. Like most dreams, his memory of it was a little fuzzy, and it was getting harder to remember it with each passing second. But that was ok, he wanted to forget.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," said his mom, who by now had gained back her composure, "It was a dream and nothing more, so you better get ready for work. Cid is sure to chew you out good if you're late for the first day on the job."


	2. Old Man Cid

As Riku entered the kitchen, he saw his mom scrambling some eggs while his adoptive brother Sora sat at the table, still in his pajamas. He was twirling his fork in one hand and running his fingers through his long spiky brown hair with the other, all while impatiently waiting breakfast.

"Morning Riku, what was with all the shouting this morning? I would've gotten up to see what was wrong, but my bed was just too comfy." Sora said with a smug look on his face. They were only one year apart, with Riku being seventeen and Sora sixteen, but Sora was much less mature, or at least in Riku's eyes. Never the less, they were best friends, and brothers in nearly everything but blood.

It all started ten years ago, when both of their dads, who were fishermen, drowned at sea in a vicious storm. Riku's mom was able to get a job at a local elementary school as a teacher and keep her family from going broke, but Sora's mother died giving birth to him, so he was all alone. Riku's mom felt sorry for him, so she adopted him, and the two boys were best friends ever since. It was strange; Sora had gone through so much pain and loss at such a young age, but you could never tell. He always seemed to have a smile on his face, even in the bleakest of circumstances.

"It was nothing, just a bad dream." Riku finally said. "So, what are you and the others doing today?"

"Nothing much, Kiari, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and I are just going down to the beach. I wish you could come."

"You know I can't do that, I have work."

"Yeah, but I mean come on, this is the first day of summer vacation! Sounds like a drag."

"You keep forgetting Sora, I want to do this. I'm a senior in high school now. Pretty soon, I'll have to face the real world, so I might as well be ready. Being a gumi ship mechanic is a good occupation, and learning under Cid this summer will definitely help me out in the long run. Besides, if I save the money I earn now, I can use it later to help me get started in life."

"Well, I guess you have a point, but that doesn't mean I'm doing the same thing next summer."

It was then that Riku's mom came over to the table with two plates of scrambled eggs and toast. "I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you dear. Now eat up you two, you both have a big day ahead of you."

After polishing off his breakfast, Riku got up and was making his way to the door, when his mom called out from the kitchen, "Have a great day of work dear, and don't forget to grab your lunch next to the door on your way out."

"All right mom, I will." Riku said as he took his lunch and opened the door.

"Good luck Riku. You'll need it if you're working for that old fruit cake." Sora said before slurping down the rest of his orange juice.

"Cid's no fruit cake, he's just a little… different, is all, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. See you both tonight."

As Riku crossed through his front door, a faint smile crossed his lips. The temperature was perfect, the sky was nearly cloudless, and there was a gentle breeze in the air. Even the squawking of seagulls, which would annoy most people, was to him a calming, familiar sound that was a constant in his ever changing life. He lived on the small island world of Destiny Island, and although things got a little dull sometimes, his life was a good one, and he knew it.

After walking across town for about fifteen minutes, Riku finally made it to Cid's Garage, a gumi ship repair shop owned by Cid, a strange old man who had spent most of his life traveling between worlds. He had traveled to more worlds and had seen more sights than anyone Riku had ever known. Eventually he settled down in the small world of Destiny Island just over eleven years ago and made a living repairing gumi ships, vessels used to travel between worlds. He often spent his free time telling the local children stories of other worlds. Thus he became pretty popular with the town's children, but not their parents.

On Destiny Island, it was widely accepted that the outside world was just too dangerous and that it was a much better idea simply to remain on their peaceful and quiet little island world. Parents believed that, were their children to move to another world, or even worse, travel the worlds in search of excitement and adventure, they would be swallowed up by danger and they would never see them again. So in their mind, Cid and his incredible stories were a threat to their children's safety.

Thus, Cid was treated as an outcast by many of his fellow islanders. But despite listening to the old man's stories of a life far different than their own, most of the local children, including Sora, were perfectly content living their live in much the same way that their fathers did, mostly by fishing for a living, But Riku wasn't one of them. Ever since he first heard Cid's tales of worlds filled with wonder and amazement, he dreamed of seeing them for himself. After his dad died in that horrible storm ten years ago, Cid became something of a father figure to him, and to Cid, he became the son he never had. Riku's mom didn't really like the old man much, but allowed Riku to talk to him because Cid and his father were close friends.

Cid's Garage was one of the biggest buildings in town, despite being small compared to the repair shops in other worlds. Inside were several gumi ships of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Most of them were small transports fishermen used to take their fish to markets in other worlds. Riku had spent countless hours watching Cid word on ships like these, and now he was finally able to start working on them himself. Sitting in front of a desk in the corner of the garage was Cid himself.

Cid was in his early sixties, but was in very good shape for his age. He had gray hair that still had traces of blond in it. He also had light skin, blue eyes, and beard stubble all over his face. He wore a pair of dirty work boots, an old pair of jeans, a stain covered white t-shirt, and his lucky blue jacket. Between his teeth was clenched a single toothpick. Cid once told Riku that when he was still a young man, he was a heavy smoker, but was eventually able to ditch the nasty habit. However, he still had the desire to have something sticking out of his mouth all the time, so he started chewing on toothpicks.

"Morning champ, I see you're as punctual as always. Ready for work?" Cid asked.

"Yeah, thanks for giving me the job, by the way."Riku replied.

"Anytime. Now go grab a wrench and we'll start working on the blue and yellow ship over there."

Over the next few weeks, a pattern began to form. Sora and his friends would go to the beach and surf, while Riku went off to work at Cid's Garage. There he would learn the inner workings of gumi ships, and learn how to repair them.

But seven weeks after Riku started his new job, this pattern, along with life as he and his friends knew it, would forever change.


End file.
